Carec Transport Strategy 2030

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Transport Strategy 2030 builds on progress made and lessons learned from the CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy 2020. It separates trade facilitation from transport and links to the overall CAREC 2030 program in the areas of enhanced connectivity and sustainability. This strategy underscores increasing sustainability and network quality alongside continued construction and rehabilitation of transport corridors, and places more emphasis on multimodal connectivity, road asset management, road safety, and performance-based maintenance goals. The CAREC Transport Strategy 2030 will be implemented in conjunction with the CAREC Integrated Trade Agenda 2030.

About 25,000 kilometers of railway corridors connect countries within the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) region. CAREC countries export mostly to the European Union (33% of exports in 2015) and the People's Republic of China (19%), but growing export-import activity is underserved. The rail network does not match changing trade patterns. Improved rail service quality is needed to facilitate regional cooperation. This publication provides a blueprint for sound, long-term development of CAREC railways into a quick, efficient, and accessible transport system. The 2017-2030 CAREC railway strategy intends to equip the region's railways to better capture evolving trade flows and contribute to regional economic development by improving rail and multimodal infrastructure and commercializing and reforming railway activities.

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Tourism Strategy 2030 sets out the long-term vision, objectives, programs, and targets to promote sustainable, safe, and inclusive tourism development in the region. The strategy also aims to enhance the region's attraction as a competitive tourism destination globally. It builds upon countries' efforts to develop their tourism sectors as well as existing initiatives being implemented by development partners. It adopts a holistic approach, covering five strategic pillars: connectivity and infrastructure, quality and standards, skills development, marketing and branding, and market intelligence. The strategy also mainstreams six cross-cutting themes: health, safety, and security; digitalization; gender equality; environmental sustainability; private sector participation; and universal access to tourism services.

Road accidents are the sixth leading cause of death in Central Asia., with a road traffic death rate of 10 to 25 per 100,000. A framework is needed for Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) member countries to effectively implement CAREC's commitment to road safety. CAREC's strategy envisions making its road corridors safe, efficient, and attractive to motorists. The target is to halve the number of CAREC road corridor fatalities by 2030---translating to 23,000 lives saved and 250,000 serious injuries prevented annually. The strategy builds upon existing strengths within the region, addresses gaps, utilizes good practice, and mitigates risks. This publication embodies the CAREC countries' commitment to make road safety a priority.

The report's overarching conclusion is that CAREC has a unique and urgent opportunity to chart a course of proactive, systematic, and strategic engagement in supporting its member countries in reinforcing, modifying, and implementing existing national strategies on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and in developing a range of regional actions in response to the regional nature of many climate change impacts and solutions.

The objective of road asset management is generally to optimize economic benefits by minimizing maintenance costs and road user costs. This compendium presents the best practices for the introduction and development of road asset management based on a desktop review of the experiences in the 11 member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program. These best practices reflect common problems the different CAREC member countries face, and the most successful solutions in the development of road asset management applied by CAREC and non-CAREC countries. This compendium also provides a general introduction to the concept of road asset management and presents an overview of the status of road asset management in each CAREC country.